Recently, I noticed a huge discrepancy in the statistics that one of our client’s sites was reporting on Google Analytics. I suggested to the client to add one of my favorite free web metrics tools, Statcounter. Statcounter gives you free stats up to a certain number of visits and then you can upgrade to be able to collect and view more historical data, once you get a taste of how user friendly and useful the program is.

So, the client added Statcounter and we were greeted with a very pleasant and more accurate view into what was happening on their site. By chance, this excellent article was just published pointing to the real (and somewhat intentional) inaccuracies of Google Analytics: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21144.asp

But be wary. Google Analytics is not inaccurate because it is free. Don’t forget that Google Analytics was formerly Urchin, one of, if not THE leading web metrics applications from a few years back – and it was not a cheap subscription back then. The article offers some interesting insights as to the reasons for the inaccuracies and also points out that no analytics applications can be completely accurate.